Woven fabric.



No. 854,220. PATBNTED MAY-21, 19o?.

* J E KERR WOVEN FABRIC.

APPLIGATION FIIBD NOV. 11, 1905.

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JAMES E. KEER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

WOVEN FABRIC.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 21, 1907.

Application le November 11,1905. Serial No. 286,804.

To (L7/Z whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JAMES E. Knien, a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in I/Voven Fabrics, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is a ribbed reversible fabric of peculiar construction,-that is a fabric either side of which may be exposed to view and present an agreeable appearance. This fabric may be used for floor coverings, curtains, table covers, furniture covers or almost any purpose for which a figured textile fabric is suitable. The use to which it is to be put determines the quality and weight of the yarn from which it should be woven and the fineness or number of hooks in the jacquard to be used in its construction; but my invention has nothing to do with the coarseness or fineness of the cloth nor with its quality, but relates solely to the structure, and is in effect a new fabric distinct from anything known before.

In my fabric I use three warps which are preferably, but not necessarily, of different colors, and are all preferably, but not necessarily, wound on one beam and two wefts, a stufler or figuring weft and a binder weft, the

stuffer or figuring weft being preferablyv thrown alternately from a light and a dark shuttle. That is, in the preferred form of my invention, a full succession of picks, making one unit of the cloth, would consist of four picks, namely, a dark stuff er a binder, a light stuffer and a binder. I may, however con* struct my fabric with both stuffer picks light or both dark.

An important feature in the structure of my fabric is that there is no separate binding warp, but at any given point of my fabric either one of the three warps may, for the time being, be used as a binding warpfthe same warp being at other points in the same piece of cloth used as a figuring warp and another of thc three warps being in turn used as a binding warp. That is at each point of the cloth one warp is used for figuring on the face, one warp for figuring on the back and the third warp as a binding warp, and at any point of the fabric I may select any one of the three warps-I please for any one of these three functions. This is true throughout the fabric, it being understood that a warp is considered as being used for figuring when it is temporarily hidden in the fabric for the purpose of displaying the weft on the face in l the manner hereinafter described.

Referring now to the drawings, Figures 1 to 7 inclusive represent a continuous longitudinal section through a piece of my fabric, the threads being represented as loosened out and `set somewhat formally so as to show clearly the construction, it being understood that in the actual cloth the threads would be beaten up closer together. Fig. 8 represents a transverse section through `line X, X of Fig. 8, and Fig. 9 represents a longitudinal section of a configuration occasionally used, as will be more particularly described hereafter.

The three warps are represented by a, `b, and c, of which it may be supposed for illustration that a. is red, b is blue and cis yellow.

D represents the dark stuffer weft, L the light stuffer weft, and B. the binder weft.

In Figs. l, 2 and 7 it will be seen that the red warp, a, is for the time being, used as a binding warp, and, as in its course it passes over two wefts and under two wefts, (a stuffer and a binden) there would bea tendency at these points, in the weaving of the fabric to use up more of this red warp than of the other two, which, as will be seen, pass over and under only one weft. This would be a tendency only, however, as, the three warps being taken from one beam, (or from separate beams having the same let off or geared together so as to act as one,) the same amount of each warp thread must be let off in the weaving. The result, therefore, is that this red warp will, at these places, be pulled tighter than the other two, and force up the stuffer weft above it and force down the stuffer weft below it, thus accentuating and preserving the ribs of the fabric, which will, consequently, always present a real ribbed surface. What has just been said of the red warp is, of course, equally true of the other two warps when they, in turn, are used as binding warp, as shown in Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6.

As each warp thread is separately controlled from the jacquard machine in weaving, I am enabled to form any color combination possible with the number of colors of yarn used. With the red, blue and yellow warp and a black and a white stuffer weft, for illustration, I can make red, blue or yellow plain color on the face, with either of the two remaining plain colors on the back, (calling one side of the fabric the face and the IOO IIO

other the back,) or I can make a combinal tion of any two of these colors on the face giving an imitation of so called Moresque effect; that is, on any transverse line of the fabric, or over any given pick of filling, the warp may be of alternate threads of two or more colors. I can also make alternate transverse lines of different colors producing an effect similar to what is called shot-about in ingrain carpets, being however produced with the warp instead of the weft as in ingrain carpets. Further, each of these effects, and each of all other eifectsxmay be rendered either light or dark according to whether the white or the black stuffer is under them. The appearance of each effect may also be modified by the color that is selected as a binding warp, which, covering the binder weft, shows to some extent as a fine line on the face of the fabric between the ribs formed by the stuffer weft. For illustration, with, say the red warp covering the stuffer, I may at one place use the blue warp as a binder, covering the binder weft, making fine blue lines through the red, giving a purple effect, and at other places the yellow may be used as a binder, covering the binder weft, making fine yellow lines through the red, giving an orange effect.

It will be understood by experienced weavers and designers that, although the elements used are simple, the most complex and elaborate effects may be obtained by skilfully choosing the combinations of colors to be used.

As a further variety, the warps may, if desired, be one or more made up of a number of colors, known as planted warps, as is well understood in the art.

The above description of the different effects, or some of the different effects, possible in my improved fabric,vassumes that for a limited portion of the width of the cloth all of any given color of warp is lifted together. This, however, is not necessary, as should be well understood by those skilled in the art; but I may, cause only every alternate thread or every third thread or a less number of any given warp to be lifted to pass over, or left down to pass under any given pick, thus causing the particular pick of weft, at the given point, to be only partly covered by the warp and consequently to show, more or less, through the warp ony the face or back of the fabric. This is illustrated in Fig. 8, which is a transverse section through X, X of Fig. 3, in which I have shown on theface or top line of the fabric the black weft, D, crossed by the red warp a. At the portion marked p, all the red warp crosses D, practically covering it and making substantially a plainred on the face; at g, only every alternate thread of the red warp crosses D, and D, consequently shows through to some extent, darkening the red, while at r, only a few threads of the red warp are raised over D, just enough to bind it to the face of the `fabric, and here the effect would be practically a plain black. The iigure shows the blue warp used in the same manner on the back. Of course it is understood that the same method may be adopted with any of the colors, in any way desired, and the back or opposite side of the fabric may or may not be so treated. In this Fig. 8, the red warp that is not raised over D, is represented as lying in the center of the fabric, and this mode of disposing of it may be adopted where the extent of cloth so treated is small, as will usually be the case in practical designing; should it be desired however, to have a considerable extent white or any color effect in which only a portion of a given warp is lifted, it would be desirable to so dispose of the warp not used that it may be taken up to a greater extent than it would be by the method of Fig. 8; in such case I prefer to raise the superfluous warp over the binder pick of weft as illustrated in Fig. 9 which represents a longitudinal section. Here every alternate red warp is supposed to be lifted to pass over the black stuffer, the red warp that is not lifted over the stuffer being lifted to pass over the binder pick, thus making the take-up of the warp practically the same throughout.

In this specification I have used the words point of the fabric, and unit of the fabric'as convertible terms, the same meaning the smallest possible complete portion of fabric. In-the fabric illustrated in the drawings a unit would consist of four picks of weft, namely a light and a dark stuifer and two binders and three warp threads, namely the red, the blue and the yellow, which are supposed to alternate across the width of the fabric as the picks alternate in the length of the fabric.

Having as above fully described my improved fabric, and the best modes known to me of producing the same, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is.

1. A new fabric having a heavy weft and a fine weft and three warps, either one of which may at any given point of the fabric be used as a binding warp and the other two as figuring warps, substantially as shown and described.

2. A new fabric having a coarse weft and a fine weft and three warps, one of which acts as a binding warp and the other two as figuring warps at any given point of the fabric, each warp thread being of substantially the same length, as described.

3. A new fabric having a coarse stuffer weft of alternately light and dark picks, a fine binding weft alternating with the stuffer weft, and three warps alternately, one of the three warps being at any point used as a binding warp and the other two as figuring warps, and these being interchanged at different parts of the fabric as shown and described.

of black or Y IOO IIO

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4. A ne vv fabric having three figuring warp threads in a set and no binding warp, but having any one ofthe three figuring warps at any point locally used as a binding warp, as shown and described.

5. A new fabric having a ribbed surface and constructed of alternately coarse and fine weft threads7 and having three warp threads in a set7 all being essentially figuring warp threads7 and all of substantially the saine length, one 0f the three being at any given point locally used asa binding warp and forcing the coarse weft threads above the general surface of the cloth to preserve the ribs in the manner shown and described. 15

JAMES E. KERK.

Witnesses z L. ALBERT GRAY, R. L. SNYDER. 

